Sunday, September 6, 2015

A writer with a very personal reflection of how he left Germany because of their anti-immigrant stance and all the xenophobia he experienced, particularly after the wall came down and the two Germanys reunited. Lately, though he's had his eyes opened at how welcoming and friendly Germany has become in the 20 years since his absence, being one of the first countries to welcome refugees from Syria and accepting (so far) more than any other country (Germans out welcoming refugees at train station with gifts and toys and water). Conversely, he looks at how Canada has changed in those years, too, going from a country that is a model of peace keeping to one that bombs other countries.

Jailed Saudi blogger, Raif Badawi, releases a translated book of the blog posts that got him into trouble (merely calling for separation of church and state), 1000 Lashes: Because I Say What I Think. PEN World has an excerpt here.

For those who live in Montreal, here's a list of various ideas with photos/designs for what to do with the Silos along the canal in the Old Port (the site is in French though some great graphics there). Some are great ideas (a huge museum complex, wow, though it'd cost a fortune) and some are standard capitalist fare (Turn them into condos yawn). Honestly, I live not far from them and I'm in the park alongside the silos several times a week. I hope they do nothing with them, at least for now, because that park is one of the best green spaces in the city (and not very busy).